Now this makes sense. - Of course I mean purely from a sales and marketing perspective. And, I''ll be extremely surprised if the original versions are included on the new HD disks (see Q #3 below)

Why did this happen?? Let's speculate.....

Q #1: How do you get fans to re-buy a show on HD-DVD that they already own when it's known to be so "cheesy" that most won't care about improved resolution? Especially when that improved resolution would only reveal more flaws (bad makeup, bad effects, bad lighting)?

A: LUCAS IT UP!

Q #2: How do release a feature film directed by J J Abrams that is set during a 60's TV show and make it tie in visually to the original series? How do you get fans of Abrams' movie to buy the original series?

A: LUCAS IT UP!

Q #3: How do you get those same fans to buy the same series yet again in say, 2010?

A: Finally put the original versions back on the HD-disks, side-by-side with the "LUCAS IT UP!" versions that you originally released in 2007. Only this time you improve the CG on the "LUCAS IT UP!" versions, too (since you had the intelligence to make the effects sup-par in 2007). .. .. ..

Paramount Exec; "Then what?"

Paramount employee; "How about we do the same with Next Gen?"

Paramount Exec; "Brilliant!! You deserve a promotion!"

Paramount employee; ("What an idiot. It's not like we have a choice. The Next Gen effects were shot on video, so we have to re-do them to sell it in HD.") "Thanks, boss. I guess I just had an epiphany!" _____ (So now it's up to you to make "LUCAS IT UP!" the new catchphrase! Come on it's what all the cool kids are saying!)

I think this is a fabulous idea. I grew up during NextGen's first run, so my first exposure to the original crew was The Voyage Home. I've always felt like TOS was too cheesy to watch, but I've forced myself to watch some of the great episodes like "Journey to Babel" and "City on the Edge of Forever".

My only complaint is that Paramount doesn't have a website set up for the syndication, so there's no way to know in advance where the show will be airing or on what channel. Nice move, Paramount!

"Only two things are infinite––the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not so sure about the universe." ––Albert Einstein

See, that's one of the reasons I kind of like the idea. If "camp and nostalgia" are the lynchpins for something's appeal, that doesn't say much about it. If these shows can still be entertaining once those factors are reduced, I think that speaks highly of it.

Jay's Movie Blog - A movie-viewing diary.Transplanted Life: Sci-fi soap opera about a man placed in a new body, updated two or three times a week.Trading Post Inn - Another gender-bending soap, with different collaborators writing different points of view.

I think the idea is silly. If they're going to CGI everything, why don't they actually make everything more realistic? Obviously starships in the 23rd century won't look like we thought they would in 1966.

Sorry, but that's an absurd idea. Who cares what space ships will actually look like? The Enterprise is an ungainly mess with a saucer section and two warp nacelles that would fall off if it bumped into anything - but that's our beloved ship!

"Real" space ships won't even have have warp drive because FTL is impossible. If the ships were "real" you wouldn't even have a Federation or a TV show for that matter.

Well the new movie coming out has the same style and design as the show based on the teaser poster but will obviously have cgi and 2008 based effects. They want the show to mirror that since the show will take place where the movie(or movies if it gets sequels) ends.

Replacing the crappy FX would be like replacing Shatner's bad acting, or Uhuru's 3-inch miniskirts, or Bones' ridiculous country doctor affectations.

On the other hand, the jarring juxtaposition of those newly-minted computer-generated space scenes set against the obviously cardboard interiors of the Starship Enterprise (made even more obvious in HD!) might usher in a whole new panoply of ridiculousness, a sorta Neo-Campism.

And while that might be nearly as funny as a hammy Shatner soliloquy, it's also would be much less endearing.

Alright, what about the idea that this is history? Or that this is art? Do we go around airburshing the Mona Lisa or CGI "Citizen Kane" or adding synthesizers to Frank Sinatra music? No. The same rule applies here. This is a disgrace and yet another slap in the face to the true Trek fans out there, the ones who watch for the story...the same people, mind you, that kept this franchise afloat during the 1970s in syndication. The same people who wrote all the letters to NBC for a third season.

They re-recorded the theme music too. Wonder if there will be any other music replacements?

And Shatner did indeed overdo it occasionally but he also did some great stuff on the show. Interestingly in the first few epsiodes he is incredibly restrained. There are very few if none of the later "Shatner-isms..." Watxh say "Balance of Terror" again and you will be surprised.